Friday, October 12, 2007

making like a duck

It wasn't supposed to be like this.

My spouse is away on a well deserved vacation and I am playing at being a single parent.

I had been imagining all the fun things my kids and I would do together. Go for bike rides, to the park, the library. I would get my writing and errands out of the way today and even have time for lunch with a friend I haven't seen for a couple of years.

But the weather sucks, my oldest has been testing his limits and my four year old has come down with a miserable cold. I cancelled my lunch date, am behind on my writing and feeling like the world's worst mother (how many consecutive hours should any child be allowed to watch TV, even when he's sick?).

My spouse left yesterday.

So D. (the sick four year old) and I put on a cd this morning and danced around. I promised S. a movie this evening. Things may not be going the way that I'd planned but we'll roll with it.

The minute that the sun comes out, I am throwing on some clothes (did I mention that I am still in my pajamas?), bundling D. in the stroller and going for a walk. I'm washing my hands a lot so that I don't get sick. I'll see if I can set up a play date for S. this week end.

In the days before cancer, this turn of events would have left me feeling pretty bitter.

Mmm-hmm, this sounds like my days when Aeryn is not in daycare; this week, she stayed home b/c she's been sick and the weather has been damp & rainy I didn't want her to relapse or get her daycare friends sick.

Sorry about the turn of events. Oh, and a sick child gets to watch as much tv as s/he can handle. Even in stricter times, when there was a whole lot less on tv (whoohoo, all the way up to Channel 13, plus Felix, Kimba, and Speed Racer on 52), I was allowed to watch as much as I wanted. Make it easy on yourself.

I'll keep my fingers crossed for better weather, less illness, and more cheerfulness from S.

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about me

Laurie lives, writes and plays in beautiful Ottawa with her two gorgeous sons, one handsome spouse and an ill-behaved Tibetan Terrier. She enjoys strong coffee, knitting, reading, long walks around the neighbourhood and trying to find her floors under all the rubble (OK maybe not so much that last part). Laurie is the author of Not Done Yet: Living Through Breast Cancer and she also blogs at getfrivolous.com She dreams of one day writing a novel, travelling to Australia and finding matches for all the socks that come out of the laundry.